He's No Hero
by Isabel Fox
Summary: Lizzie Turner has to cross an entire ocean just to find out that her father is a crippled emotional wreck. In the course of events she finds different things than what she came for. CHAPTER 3 POSTED
1. Chapter 1

Lizzie Turner was running late on her first day at the hospital. She had just finished her Psychology studies and had subsequently been assigned an internship and she really wondered how she'd managed to get one at this exact hospital, it was like a miracle.

She rushed into the building, her blue eyes quickly scanned the signs, finding out where to go next. She'd been told to report to someone named Dr Cuddy in no less than two minutes.

„Bloody hell, where is it?," she asked herself in her still quite broad English accent. She'd been in the United States for about five years now but she didn't sound American at all, not that she had tried a lot, it wasn't what she was here for.

Finally she found the office she'd been looking for and knocked.

„Come in," she heard from the other side of the door and hesitantly opened it.

„Good morning," she said. „My name's Elizabeth Turner, I'm the new Psychology intern," she explained and the woman sitting behind the desk got up from her chair to greet her.

„Hi, I'm Dr Cuddy," she didn't seem to have noticed that Lizzie was 10 minutes late but before she could even try and apologise, Cuddy said, „Well, it's planned that you should join the team of Dr House because all our other departments are really overloaded. I hope that's not a problem."

Lizzie was shocked, this was so much more than she'd expected, so much better and so much scarier at the same time. Cuddy must have seen it in the expression on her face.

„I know he's got a very bad reputation concerning social interactions and I can say myself that it's more than true, but I'm sure you'll learn to deal with it," she tried to reassure Lizzie but there was also a tone in her voice that made it clear she didn't have another choice. „A psychologist might actually do him a great deal of good," she said under her breath.

„No, that's fine," Lizzie stuttered. „No problem at all."

As they walked along the corridors heading for the conference room in which House and his team met up each morning, Lizzie noticed her heart beating faster. The whole plan she'd been building up for 5 years was shattered into pieces in the matter of seconds.

She'd planned to get to know him gradually, find out more about him, and now she felt like she'd been thrown into cold water. Nervously, she flicked one of her brown curls.

„This is it," Cuddy announced, knocked on a door that said: Dr Gregory House, MD and opened it.

„This is it," Lizzie mumbled to herself and only a second later she faced the man she'd been looking for for the past 23 years.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Lizzie noticed about Greg House was not the fact that he was using a cane, it was the grim look on his face.Was he just in a bad mood or was that to do with Cuddy's hint about social skills? But Lizzie also noticed his eyes that were so very similar to her own. Or was she just imagining this?

Pretending confidence, she walked over to him and was suddenly aware of other people's presence in the room. Three other young doctors, they had to be House's team, were sitting around the conference table that took up the best part of the room. They were looking at her and House, waiting to find out what was going on.

„My name's Elizabeth Turner, I'm the new Psy-," but House didn't let her finish and didn't shake her outreached hand either.

„Well, I guess this must have been Cuddy's idea," he stated sarcastically, ironically looking at the doorway that Cuddy had already abandoned. „Probably wants to find someone who makes me feel good about being a cripple."

Lizzie didn't know how to take this and wasn't sure what to do but luckily, the female doctor at the table came to her rescue.

„Hi, I'm Alison Cameron," she came over to Lizzie to shake her hand as if to show House what good manners were. Following her, the two men also came over.

„I'm Eric Foreman," a black man with a polite but genuine smile shook her hand next and she repeated her own name as if rehearsed. It didn't matter how polite people were, she was still nervous as hell.

„Yeah, and I'm Robert Chase," a blond and blue-eyed doctor shook her hand and smiled broadly. Lizzie usually didn't jump to conclusions but this guy seemed too handsome in the commonly accepted way to be not mean.

„Hi, I'm Elizabeth Turner, pleased to meet you," she replied when her suspicions were confirmed only seconds later.

„Well, someone's English," she heard Chase, who had was grinning widely, whisper to Foreman so she wouldn't hear.

„Well, we used to send our convicts to Australia," Lizzie said to Cameron, not even trying to keep her voice down. Granted, it wasn't the wittiest comment ever but it still had the intended effect. Taken by surprise, Chase turned around with an almost humiliated look. He looked as if he was about to say something but he was interrupted by House.

„Does everyone know everyone then," he said impatiently. „We've got better things to do."

By that he seemed to mean playing with a tennis ball, throwing it against the wall and catching it.

„Ive had strange experiences with shrinks," he said matter-of-factly. „Thing is, they always want me to come to terms with myself."

„Actually, I'm not a shrink," Lizzie explained, people always thought she wanted to analyse them and tell them what their subconscious expressed through their behaviour. „In fact, I'm a medical psychologist-"

„Isn't psychology more like a mickey mouse subject? I mean, everyone can do it, that's why everyone does it," House pondered, his eyes following the movement of the tennis ball. „And you're not going to be an MD, are you?," House mocked her to make her see that he didn't take her seriously.

„No," she admitted, already starting to give in. „It's a PhD degree, but it's still scientific, it's also about making people healthy." She sensed that House had the conversation under control and she couldn't win anyway, he would think of her whatever he wanted.

„Ah well, my little ducklings, everyone say hi to Micky Mouse!"


	3. Chapter 3

„Who does he think he is?," Lizzie wondered when she rushed off to the cafeteria for lunch. Did he really think of himself that he was SUCH an awesome genius that could look down on everyone else or what? Of all the things she could possibly have expected, it definitely wasn't that.

After walking through the double doors of the cafeteria, Lizzie eyed the food on the counter suspiciously. Surely you couldn't do anything wrong with a simple salad, right? She usually didn't trust cantine food and she wouldn't start now, you could never know what they added to the food so it'd keep longer. After she'd paid, it fortunately didn't take long to find a seat so she started to dig in.

In her life, Lizzie had had to deal with many difficult people but she'd never come across a person so...she couldn't find an adequate adjective...as House. Naively, she'd hoped to find a sane person in her family but in vain.

„Hey, can I sit down here?", Lizzie looked up from her plate and saw Cameron, smiling at her as once before.

„Sure," Lizzie replied. „But you don't need to just because you feel sorry," she added when she noticed that Chase and Foreman had also arrived but walked straight to the other corner of the room. Cameron followed her look and realised.

„No, it's not that," she explained when she sat down. „I just know how hard it is to be new here. Especially when you work for House." Lizzie could see that the frustration in Cameron's eyes was genuine so she relaxed.

„Yeah, he's a strange man, isn't he?," Lizzie stated casually, hoping that Cameron would tell her more about her father.

„Yeah," Cameron nodded, pausing for a few moments. „Don't let him get to you. You'll just get used to it over time, believe me. And he's not even that bad when you get to know him better." And there was something else flickering in Cameron's eyes but Lizzie didn't dare to ask, she wasn't in the position to question Cameron, they didn't even know each other properly.

„And about Chase," Cameron started again. „I think he's just happy that House is mocking somebody else and leaves him in peace for once. It's not personal or anything."

„As if that justified his behaviour," Lizzie thought but didn't voice it. That guy would soon have to learn how to live with the consequences of his actions.

„Hmm," was all that Lizzie could come up with to say but couldn't hide her frown.

„Would you like to go for a drink after work?", Cameron then asked totally out of the blue. „We could all get to know each other better. Makes the working environment much more relaxed." She was beaming because of the idea which automatically made Lizzie think that Cameron thought she could be a good samaritan or similar. All problems could be solved, or could they?

„The five of us?", Lizzie doubted.

„No, I don't think House will agree but the others definitely won't say no," Cameron promised although she suspected she'd have to persuade Chase for a while.

„Ok, tonight after work then?" It was a Friday night so that shouldn't be a problem.

„Tonight after work."


End file.
